I think it comes down to trust. In a lot of teams where the trust is poor, one can't ask a question without your competency coming into question in a subtle way: many developers will latch onto it and try to exhibit their business-specific or technical knowledge in a form of one-upmanship. So they have turned it into a competition instead of a conversation.

A good way to detect these environments is when you observe those who have been there longer not asking obvious questions. That usually means the trust issue is there. When you start asking those obvious questions, at first you get that feedback loop of slight condescension. But then others start asking questions and you often get a fruitful conversation.

Having worked outside of the startup world and in the startup world, I think this is a little more prevalent in the startup world because there is another axis besides experience involved in these conversations: how long the person has been with the startup. It's common to have an official or unofficial hierarchy based on experience but in the startup world, there is another hierarchy based on how long you have been at the startup. That additional axis means it comes up a little more in the startup world (in my experience so far).